The newly elected Irvine City Council wasted no time trying to tackle what many residents consider the most pressing issue the community is facing – traffic congestion.

Editorial –

Irvine Residents Need to Hire a Class Action Law Firm – Sue City Hall – the Developers and Individual Council-members – Seek Damages over Approved Runaway Development and Greed – Resulting in Traffic Gridlock – You’ve Got to Play Hardball with these Crooks and Dig Into the Personal Finances of Council Members – and You’ll find that they’re All in Debt Up to Their Asses and Will Expect Secret Money Payoffs for Voting to Approve Development and Construction –

IRVINE – The newly elected City Council wasted no time trying to tackle what many residents consider the most pressing issue the community is facing – traffic congestion.

The council on Tuesday directed staff to prepare reinstating the Transportation Commission and start recruiting a transportation manager. The council approved these proposals by Mayor Don Wagner 4-0, with Councilman Jeff Lalloway absent.

“I’m certain it’s no surprise to anyone on this council or any citizen of this great city that traffic is an issue that we are grappling with as a community,” said Wagner, who was elected in November. “I wanted to make sure that I have the opportunity to say to all of you in this city, ‘We hear you and are very interested in doing everything we can to alleviate traffic and to grapple with that issue.’”

The Transportation Commission will be tasked with evaluating the traffic impact of development proposals, monitoring the progress of traffic improvement projects, reviewing traffic signal coordination and advising the Planning Commission and City Council, according to Wagner’s proposal. Staff must return in February with necessary resolutions or ordinances to form the commission.

The transportation manager will oversee all aspects of transportation matters such as traffic management and transit planning, while serving as the staff liaison to the proposed Transportation Commission. The city plans to pay for the new person with a vacant position that’s already budgeted.

The council also directed City Manager Sean Joyce to calculate costs for the following projects:

• A pilot project to install real-time signal timing adjustments along a selected corridor, such as Von Karman Avenue. The technology detects traffic volumes to give just the right amount of green signal time.

• Providing circulating shuttles throughout the center of the city.

• Promoting staggered business hours, non-peak delivery periods and ride-sharing in the business community.

The city has already committed to spending $116 million toward solving traffic congestion.

According to a survey conducted by the city, about 60 percent of the respondents said traffic congestion is a “daily annoyance” or a “big problem.” More than half of the survey respondents blamed increasing population as the No. 1 cause of Irvine’s traffic congestion. Irvine also draws commuters and those who drive here for shopping and dining.

Mayor Pro Tem Lynn Schott said Irvine’s traffic and population are near capacity.

“We are going to do our best to improve the situation to keep things flowing as smoothly as we can,” she said. “But I don’t think it’d be realistic for us to say we are going to be able to spend X amount of dollars and everyone is going to be able to just sail through every intersection at any time of the day that they like.”